Written by:

Abhinav Saxena
1st Year, B.A. LL.B. (Hons)
Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur

Lokpal Bill
The term Lokpal came in the public domain when it was mentioned for the first
time during a parliament debate by Mr. Laxmi Mal Singhvi a Member of Parliament
from Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

The Lokpal Bill was first brought in the form of bill by Adv. Shanti Bhushan in the
year 1968 and the same was also passed by the 4 th Lok Sabha but before it could
have been passed by the Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha was dissolved and the bill
consequently got lapsed.

Utter indifferent and recalcitrant attitude of the law-makers could easily be traced
by looking at the number of times this bill was introduced in the Parliament and was
repeatedly not allowed to pass. Subsequent versions were introduced in 1972,
1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005, and 2008. None of them got
metamorphosed into an act.

Later on in the year 2011, Kisan Baburao Anna Hazare , a social activist and a
Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee came to the fore for the implementation
of the Jan Lokpal Bill also known as Citizen Ombudsman Bill under the umbrella of
the campaign India Against Corruption.

The Jan Lokpal Bill derived its basic essence from the Honkongs Independent
Commission Against Corruption

Major points of contention between Governments Lokpal and Jan Lokpal Bill
advocated by civil activists

PM 1. Can only be investigated after he or she vacates the office.

2. Can be investigated after getting the permission of 7 member Lokpal

Bench.

Judiciary 1. Judiciary would be exempted and would be covered by a separate

Judiciary
 2. Can be investigated but for investigating judges of higher
prominence the permission of 7
member Lokpal bench would be mandatory.

Conduct of MPs 1. Can be investigated but their conduct inside the parliament
cant be touched upon by the Lokpal.

2. Can be investigated after the permission of seven member Lokpal committee.

Lower Bureaucracy 1. Only (Group A) officers would be included.

2. All public servants would be included.

Anti-corruption wing of CBI 1. Cant be merged with Lokpal.

2. Should be merged into Lokpal.

Removal of Lokpal Staff and Officers 1. Lokpal will look into its own behavior.

2. Complaint against Lokpal staff will be looked into by a separate board that would
be set-up in each state.

Lokayukta 1. All state anti-corruption agency would be closed and responsibilities

will be taken over by centralised Lokpal.

2. Lokayukta and other local / anti-corruption agency would remain in place.

Whistleblower 1. They must be provided protection.

2. No provision for their Protection.

Punishment for corruption 1. Lokpal can only refer matter to the courts and
cant take any direct punitive action. Penalties would be same as prevalent under
current laws.

2. Lokpal can either directly impose penalties or refer the matter to the courts.

Penalties include:

a. Power Removal from office

b. Imprisonment
c. Recovery of assets

Investigatory Powers: 1. Can issue contempt order, no authority to obtain

wiretaps. Issue rogatory letters or to recruit investigating officers.

2. Lokpal can obtain wiretaps, issue rogatory letters, can recruit investigating
officers, and cant issue contempt order.
The campaign of AIC for Jan Lokpal Bill got brewed up after the introduction of
Lokpal Bill drafted by the Government of India headed by the United Progressive
Alliance. Specially after Anna Hazare, A Gandhian announced that he would be
holding a indefinite fast from 5 April for the passing of Jan Lokpal Bill.

On 8th April 2011, A 10 member drafting committee for the Lokpal Bill was
estabilished. In which 5 members were drawn from the government and 5 were
from the civil society.

1. P Chidambaram
2. Shushil Kumar Shinde
3. Veerappa Moily
4. Kapil Sibbal
5. Salman Khurshid
6. Shanti Bhushan
7. Anna Hazare
8. Prashant Bhushan
9. N. Santosh Hegde
10.Arvind Kejriwal
Inclusion of the members of the civil society was heavily criticised by the
parties like e BJP, Biju Janta Dal, Teluguu Desam Party, AIDMK, CPI, RJD, JDU
and SP.
This committee failed miserably in coming to an agreement on the draft of
the Lokpal Bill.
Criticism of Lokpal bill on several counts
1. Nave approach
2. 2. Extra constitutional
3. Scope
Aruna Roy Vesting jurisdiction over the length and breadth of the
government machinery in one institution will concentrate too much power
in the institution, while the volume of work will make it difficult to carry
out its tasks.

Arundhati Roy - You could say that the Maoists and the Jan Lokpal Bill
have one thing in common They both seek the overthrow of Indian State,
and While his means may be Gandhian, Anna Hazares demands are
certainly not. Contrary to the Gandhis idea about decentralization of
power, the Jan Lokpal is a draconian, anti-corruption law, in which a panel
of carefully chosen people will administer a gian t beureaucracy.

On the other hand there wasnt any scarcity of proponents and

propounders of Jan Lokpal Bill, it received considerable praise from various
platforms like Surveys, Legislative support (several MP across party
lines), social media, Online surveys.

O{n 27th August 2011, a special and exclusive session of parliament was
called to pass a resolution regarding the Lokpal Bill. In principle the
parliament agrred on following points and send the bill to the standing
committee.
1. A citizen character on the bill.
2. An appropriate mechanism to subject lower beaurocracy to Lokpal.
3. The estabilishment of Lokayuktas in states.

Recent developments

The Lokpal and Lokayukta Act 2013 was passed onn 17 th December 2013
with certain ammendments in the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill 2011.

The SC in this regard expressed its displeasure over the non-appointment

of Lokpal despite of law being passed in the year 2014. To the centers
response about the pendency of a amendment Bill in this regard SC bench
headed by CJI TS Thakur said Parliament cant frustrate the mandate for
appointment of Lokpal.